Local investor needed to keep business going

The proposed Dragon’s Dome deal could deflate in about a week if a local private investor does not step forward, Central Illinois Sports Alliance, LLC partner Alan Tucker said Monday.

Central Illinois Sports Alliance has a month’s extension left to close on the facility, but Tucker said he will walk away in about a week if a local investor does not come forward.

Ed McMenamin

The proposed Dragon’s Dome deal could deflate in about a week if a local private investor does not step forward, Central Illinois Sports Alliance, LLC partner Alan Tucker said Monday.

Central Illinois Sports Alliance has a month’s extension left to close on the facility, but Tucker said he will walk away in about a week if a local investor does not come forward.

He said CISA lost a primary financial partner due to “personal circumstances and (CISA) has not been able to replace that investor to date.”

In December, the Pekin City Council voted to loan $500,000 to CISA to purchase the dome for $1.15 million. The other $650,000 was to come from conventional financing to be acquired by the business.

“We had arranged for some cash to be infused into the operation and we were going to get a SBA loan — the SBA loan package was approved,” Tucker said. “We need a primary borrower to go in on that.

“Another alternative would be to find somebody with the wealth to put it up.”

The city’s loan was contingent on the deal closing, and has not yet been delivered.

“We’re obviously disappointed that they have not been able to line up the necessary financing,” Pekin Mayor Rusty Dunn said. “They’ve got a lot of other pieces in place as far as hiring people ... and marketing it and getting events booked. They’ve had a lot of activity going on there.

“From my view, it seems the operation side came together, it’s the business side that became a challenge.”

Dunn said the city would not go further than the $500,000 commitment, but would help the group “look under every rock to get them leads they might not have though of.”

An affiliate of Central Illinois Sports Alliance, named Central Illinois Sports Management, has been running the dome and booking events for the facility since January.

Tucker said that if the deal falls through, his management group will leave and he will cancel events already booked for the facility.

“I’m hopeful this will stir up some local interest in the facility,” he said. “The bottom line is, if we go away, the dome comes down and everything stops.”

Current Dragon’s Dome owner Bill Griffin said that he would indeed close the dome if Tucker’s group doesn’t close on the deal.

He would likely collapse the inflatable dome structure itself, he said, but keep the smaller front building open just long enough to accommodate wedding receptions already scheduled for the facility.

He would also put the facility and land back on the market.

The complex sits on 33 acres of property, including the 76,000-square-foot dome, a 7,000-square-foot attached support building, four lighted softball diamonds, a concession building and a parking lot with more than 500 spaces.

Tucker said he was “disappointed” in himself for not being able to find a local investor.

“At every presentation I have made to investors and banks, they immediately ask if I have secured a local partner in the venture,” he said. “Without that local partner, I do not believe we will be able to secure the underlying financial commitment necessary to complete the purchase.

“I want the deal to succeed. I’ve got a huge investment personally in time and money.”

Tucker said that the dome generates about $2 million in annual out-of-town visitor sales in the area. He said that with his marketing efforts, that number could be $8 million by the end of 2012.

Pekin City Manager Dennis Kief said Tucker’s group has “done a very good job lining up events. Obviously, we’re hoping that they come up with somebody.”

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